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Thoughts on Marriage

Dear Friends,

Today I saw a quote about marriage that resonated with me after 43 years of marriage, and 40 years of counseling married couples both inside and outside the church. If you are married, it will help. If you aren't married but are thinking of getting married, it will help. If you've been married only a short time, it may help put things into perspective, and if you've been married a long time it might explain some of the things you’ve wrestled with, leading you to nod in agreement. In any case, reading the first quote, and the others I added to go with it, cannot hurt! Enjoy!  



“Marriage is the greatest instrument of sanctification. How would you ever learn unconditional love if you were married to someone who met all the conditions? How would you ever learn mercy, patience, long-suffering, heart-felt compassion if you were married to someone who never failed you? Who is never difficult with you? Who has never sinned against you? Who is never slow to acknowledge their sin or ask for forgiveness? How would you ever learn grace—to pour out your favor on someone who did not deserve it—if you were married to someone who was always deserving of all good things? The main purpose of marriage is that through your marriage, you both become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.”
Paul Washer

“The first bitter lessons of marriage consist in learning to love the person we had actually married, instead of the image we wanted to have married… A long-term marriage has to move beyond chemistry to compatibility, to friendship, to companionship. It is certainly not that passion disappears, but that it is conjoined with other ways of love.” 
Madeline L’Engle



“Happy marriage does not depend on one fortunate choice of perfectly matched partners. It is a lifetime process depending on many choices and many adjustments arrived at by two free individuals who deliberately choose the same harness and who continuously sacrifice personal freedom and self-interest for a mutually agreeable way of life.”
 Henry Brand

“Success in marriage is more than finding the right person; it is a matter of being the right person.” 
B.R. Brickner

“More marriages might survive if the partners realized that sometimes the better comes after the worse.” 
Dan Larson

 

“A husband is one who stands beside you in times of trouble you wouldn’t have had if you hadn’t married him.”
Anonymous

“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers.”
Ruth Graham Bell

“When you say “I do” it is helpful to remember the person you are pledging yourself to that day will not be the same person 10, 20, 30 years down the road—and neither will you. That’s why we must pledge ourselves to love and cherish their inner person, not their body, money, looks, or other transient things.” J.F.E.  



Yours in the Hope of the Gospel, Pastor Jeff

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